March 2018

From where we stand...

...and where we stand is in room 3A30: ETHOS Lab has moved, and actually settled in throughout the past month. Our IoT residents Alexa and the Google Home Assistant have shown some reluctance, but they seem to slowly be coming around and settling in as well. Come by and see our new lab in 3A30--the old printer room--in front of the 3E corridor. Not least to say hi to Simy, who will fill the role as Lab Manager while Marie is on maternity leave. The lab in its new location has already hosted meetings planning the Python Study Group, Shut Up & Write sessions, and not least a cozy event marking Marie's temporary farewell.

With a 'Session on poetry, a tribute and a farewell', Marie engaged ETHOS friends in a casual, yet compelling, discussion of poetry as a an analytical device in ethnographic writing, while also paying tribute to famed and departed science fiction writer Ursula Le Guin. All by the digitally projected fireplace and with our new view of the canal from our windows. Marie is now off loading baby, and will afterwards spend time rebooting.

March has kicked off with Open Data Day 2018. Open data enthusiasts came together March 2nd--on a snowy Friday afternoon--to celebrate open data and acknowledge inspiring projects and efforts related to open data. To this end, ETHOS Lab, Open Knowledge Denmark and Open4Citizens were delighted to award the first Open Data Award/Åben Data Prisen to one particular project out of many, which you can read more about in the coming sections. On this first-of-its-kind occasion of celebrating open data, great talks and socialising with others interested in open data and its possibilities and challenges was the focus. Perhaps we can do it (and more) again next year!

There is more to look forward to in March and early April, namely visits by two prominent scholars. During Easter Week, we will be visited by postdoctoral scholar Stuart Geiger from UC Berkeley, who will give a publicETHOS talk on Monday March 26, and a workshop on Tuesday the 27th. In the beginning of April, Orit Halpern will be giving a talk and a seminar. Keep and eye on our Facebook pageTwitter, and ReadIT for more information about these events.

Are you writing your thesis or working on another assignment where you feel you are lacking dedicated time to write? Then join our weekly Shut Up & Write sessions every Thursday from 9:30-11:30 in room 3A30. You can sign up here: bit.ly/writewrite

On March 23 former Head of Lab Professor Brit Ross Winthereik will be giving her inaugural lecture ‘Seeing through infrastructure: Ethnographies of health IT, development aid, energy, and data’. We encourage you all to join. It will take place in Aud. 1 from 14:00-15:00. 

All the best,

ETHOS Lab
www.ethos.itu.dk

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Teaching: 

publicETHOS #27: Stuart Geiger

Ethnographer and postdoctoral scholar Stuart Geiger will be giving a public talk entitled 'Computational Ethnography and the Ethnography of Computation: The Case for Context'. All are welcome at at this talk, where Stuart Geiger will cover, among other things, how to think about ethnographic methods in relation to computer, information, and data science.

When: 26 March, 13:00-14:30

Where: IT University of Copenhagen in Aud. 4.

You can read more about Stuart Geiger and read an abstract here.

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Research:

Junior Researchers

The Junior Researcher programme is an important part of ETHOS Lab and its community, in part propelling our research efforts. The Junior Researchers are not only dedicated students and volunteers in the lab, but also work intensely on their respective research projects. This Spring semester, we have 10 Junior Researchers affiliated with the lab, who are working on 8 different projects. Many of the projects are Master Thesis projects, and you can read more about their projects here.

Pitch & Play #1

Our Junior Researchers will have their first Pitch & Play session in late March. Here they will present aspects of their research and what questions they are currently engaged in for the researchers affiliated with the lab.

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Blog:

Machine Learning for legal interpretations of annual reports on gender equality

Former ETHOS Lab Junior Researchers and ITU alumni Per Niels Helsø, Rådberg Nagbøl, and Benjamin Olsen share a summary of and reflections on their Master Thesis project, in which they took on the topic of employing machine learning to assess efforts towards achieving gender equality in workplaces.

Read the blog post here.

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Services:

Python Study Group

The Python Study Group kicked off on the March 1st, with a little over 60 sign-ups and attendees. The study group runs on Thursday afternoon/evenings for a total of 8 weeks.

You can still join the sessions, just remember to sign up. Read more here.

When: Thursdays from 17:30-19:30

Where: Design Lab at IT University of Copenhagen

Sign up required on http://bit.ly/studypython

Open to all ITU students, alumni and staff.

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Winner of the Danish Open Data Award 2018

To celebrate the global open data day March 3rd ETHOS Lab, Open KnowledgeDenmark and Open4Citizens hosted an after-work socialising event at the IT University Friday March 2nd . At the event there were presentations of amazing open data projects as well as the  announcement of the winner of the Danish Open Data Award 2018. The winner was Merete Sanderhoff from SMK – Statens Museum for Kunst for her work on Wiki Labs Kultur and OpenGLAM. The other nominees were Bo Fristed and Marianne Thyrring.

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Shut up & Write

Inaugural Lecture by Professor Brit Winthereik

The inaugural Lecture by  Professor Brit Winthereik takes place on the 23rd March from 2-3 pm in Aud1 at ITU. The abstract for the lecture ‘Seeing through infrastructure: Ethnographies of health IT, development aid, energy, and data’ can be read here.

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Other News

•  Did you know that you can check out availability and activities in the lab by requesting to see ethos@itu.dk in your outlook calendar view? Otherwise, we also try to create an overview here.

• Job | Analyse & Tal is looking for a Data Scientist to join their team. Read more about the position here. Application deadline is March 22.

• EventThe Data As Relation Research Group invites practitioners and people with an interest in public digitisation to an afternoon event about governance in the data driven society. The event 'Digitale dilemmaer: Hvordan forandrer data den offentlige sektor?' takes place at the IT-University on the 13th of March 2018 from 14.30-16.00. Read more here and as the event is sold out we are hoping for live streaming
 

• Academic sparring | If you are interested in joining the TiP-Salon for academic readings and diuscussions, the meet-up is every Wednesday in 3A08 @ 12-13:00. Please contact Baki Cakici bakc@itu.dk to be added to the mailing-list for details or to suggest content. 

• Videos from former publicETHOS events 

• Opening hours are Tuesday and Thursday at 12.30-16:00 in 3A30

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